Pedro Sánchez highlights the comprehensive roll out of electric vehicles in Spain, during his visit to the first battery factory

Sagunto (Valencia)

"Right now, in almost no other country will it be possible to carry out such a comprehensive roll out of electric vehicles as Spain", said the head of the Executive. In this regard, he reiterated that Spain is the second largest vehicle manufacturer in the European Union, it has a strong industrial fabric and a support ecosystem with a strong ancillary industry, and it has the capacity for public investment thanks to European funds, as well as the human capital.

The head of the Executive was accompanied at the presentation ceremony by the Minister for Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, and the President of the Valencia region, Ximo Puig, which was attended by Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess and SEAT President Wayne Griffiths. In his speech at the event, he highlighted the good employment figures for April, insisting on the importance of diversification in the future of the labour market and leadership in production processes that will make Spain a cutting-edge country, capable of advancing in the two transitions that will sustain our economic development: digital transition and ecological transition.

The battery manufacturing plant, located in the Parc Sagunt II business park, will be operational from 2026 and will create around 3,000 direct jobs. Batteries are key to the electric vehicle value chain and will transform the automotive sector towards sustainable mobility with more than 13 billion euros of funding from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The president also highlighted that the automotive sector was the first for which a specific support plan was launched in June 2020 and that the most representative PERTE and the first to be announced, in July 2021, was for Electric and Connected Vehicles.

Non official translation